The Land of Gorch
thumb|300px|The Gorch Inhabitants: (Left to Right) Scred, The Mighty Favog, Peuta, Wisss, Vazh and King Ploobis. The Land of Gorch was a recurring sketch on the first season of Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the show, stated in a Tomorrow Show interview prior to the series' premiere that these sketches would feature "a whole new group of Muppets which are adult Muppets and who can stay up late." These new "adult" Muppet characters included King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, Scred, Vazh, Wisss and the Mighty Favog. Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz performed the roles of Ploobis, Scred, and the Mighty Favog respectively, while Alice Tweedie, Fran Brill, and Richard Hunt performed the roles of Peuta, Vazh, and Wisss. Opening narration for the sketches was supplied by Saturday Night Live staff announcer Don Pardo. The series of sketches lasted from SNL's premiere in October 1975 to April 1976 (and became a recurring joke in the next season). The original proposals and scripts refer to the sketches as Gortch rather than Gorch; over time the spelling was changed, and both versions are found in the Henson files. According to the Muppet Morsels on The Muppet Show: Season One DVD, only hired writers for Saturday Night Live, and not Henson employees, were allowed to write Gorch sketches. Other writing credits went to SNL contributors Chevy Chase and Al Franken. Despite this, Jim Henson did write one sketch, for the episode hosted by Raquel Welch. The writing staff were generally less than pleased with the presence of the Muppets. Writer Alan Zweibel expressed his views on the topic: During the middle of the season, after a deal to produce The Muppet Show in England had been made, the sets were destroyed, and the Muppets were officially "let go" from the show's regular cast. All of the Gorch sketches from the second half of the season revolved around the idea that the Muppets had been fired, and were trying desperately to get their jobs back. In 1983, Jim Henson commented on what happened behind the scenes at Saturday Night Live: In early 1999, Frank Oz also commented on the show: The segments dealt with a number of racy issues: alcohol abuse, adultery, species extinction, drugs, and other "adult" topics, though each was treated with the expected SNL irreverence. Skits were indeed performed live; the exception was the January 24, 1976 episode; that sketch was pre-taped on January 10th, during the pre-shoot of the Elliot Gould episode. The Muppets were supposed to have appeared on the Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Gerald Ford's press secretary, Ron Nessen, as evidenced by a behind-the-scenes photo and Don Pardo's announcing the Muppet cast during that episode's credits. Nessen explained at the end of the episode that they could not be there due to "technical complications." The Gorch sketches from the first season were included on the Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season DVD set. While the Gorch characters were never significantly utilized following their expulsion from SNL, they can be glimpsed in the crowd of Muppets during the "Rainbow Connection" finale in The Muppet Movie (1979). Sketches Cast thumb|300px|Two behind the scenes photos: [[Chevy Chase and Raquel Welch (Top) Gerald Ford's press secretary Ron Nessen (Bottom)]] *Jim Henson as King Ploobis *Jerry Nelson as Scred *Frank Oz as the Mighty Favog *Alice Tweedie as Queen Peuta *Fran Brill as Vazh *Richard Hunt as Wisss See also *Land of Gorch Characters *Land of Gorch Goofs External links *Toughpigs.com: The Decline and Fall of Gorch Sources Land of Gorch